Nine advisers and consultants to the Delhi govt sacked after their appointments had been objected to by the union home ministry. AAP up in arms.
New Delhi: In a fresh round of confrontation between the Centre and the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi, the Lieutenant-Governor sacked nine consultants and advisers to ministers Tuesday.
The sacked advisers and consultants, who had been appointed in 2015, are:
– Atishi Marlena (media adviser to the deputy CM)
– Arunoday Prakash (media adviser to the deputy CM).
– Amardeep Tiwari (media adviser to the law minister)
– Prashant Saxena (consultant in the office of minister of power, PWD, health, industries & home)
– Samir Malhotra (consultant in the office of minister of power, PWD, health, industries & home)
– Rajat Tiwari (aide-de-camp, office of minister of power, PWD, health, industries & home)
– Raghav Chadha (adviser to the finance minister)
– Ram Kumar Jha (adviser, logistics, to the deputy CM)
– Dinkar Adib (officer on special duty to ministry of home, power, PWD)
Sisodia’s allegation
Addressing the media, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said it was a fresh attempt by the Centre to stop the Delhi government from doing good work. “First, they tried to stop the good work of the government by removing IAS officers, and now by removing consultants and advisers,” he said.
“In Madhya Pradesh, their (BJP’s) government is appointing sages, but they have a problem when we are appointing people educated at Oxford.”
AAP sources told ThePrint that they would thoroughly examine the order and decide their next step.
Why L-G’s office took the decision
The L-G’s office issued the order after the union ministry of home affairs raised objection over the appointments, on the grounds that they were not cleared by a competent authority.
On the issue of jurisdiction, the L-G’s office clarified that “notification dated 21.5.2015 of the ministry of home affairs clarifies that ‘services’ under the Govt of NCT of Delhi which includes creation of services/posts, co-terminus or otherwise) is a subject reserved for the central government as per the Constitution”.
The Delhi High Court had, in an order dated August 2016, had ruled that the L-G was the administrative head of the city-state, and hence exercised final authority in the matters of administration.